WICHE ICE enables students, through their home institutions, to seamlessly access high quality online courses and programs offered by other four-year and two-year ICE member institutions. The collaborative model fosters faculty engagement, resource sharing, and innovation.

Collaborative Initiatives

Social Work

The Western Consortium for Rural Social Work Education (WCRSWE) is a collaborative effort between WICHE and five Schools of Social Work from the WICHE region, including the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Wyoming, University of Nevada, Reno, the University of Utah and Boise State University. The consortium fosters interstate efforts between faculty and students through communication, collaboration and innovation. WCRSWE focuses on promoting a professional behavioral health workforce prepared to meet the needs of rural residents in their communities. Our goal is to maximize educational opportunities for social work students and practitioners in the rural and frontier WICHE region.

Membership with WICHE ICE provides student access to the University of Wyoming Graduate Certificate in Rural Behavioral/ Mental Health and in Health and Medical Social Work. The University of Wyoming and University of Alaska Anchorage share courses for students and practitioners interested in completing a graduate level specialization in School Social Work for certification in their state. These collaborative offerings are made available through WICHE ICE to member institutions throughout the Western region.

Students respond positively to this new opportunity:

“Sometimes it is next to impossible to travel 300 or more miles to get the education. Rural Social Work is in demand all over the West and online courses allow those who cannot travel to earn their degrees.”

“There is a need to continue to reach my Master’s degree. Right now I travel over an hour to reach my college.”

VIEW ONLINE SOCIAL WORK COURSES

Needs

Specialty content courses designed for undergraduate and graduate social work students
High quality professional development opportunities for social work practitioner

Challenges

Availability of faculty versed in content and pedagogy
Institutions with excess capacity (seats) or oversubscribed
Course development/delivery costs and return on investment
Individual institutional requirements and/or state licensure requirements

Opportunities

Course sharing using WICHE ICE enrollment model
Shared course development, teaching, and receiving capability
Shared marketing
Reach social work students and practitioners where they live and work with high quality content and instruction

Recent Activities

Shared courses through WICHE ICE
Shared program on school social work
Regular meetings at CSWE APM
Recruitment and support of doctoral students

Chair

ALASKA

University of Alaska Anchorage

Elizabeth Ann Sirles, Director

School of Social Work

College of Health and Social Welfare

3211 Providence Drive

Anchorage, AK 99508-8230

Tel: (907) 786-6900

Fax: (907) 786-6912

E-mail: sirles@uaa.alaska.edu

Expand your online academic offerings....

Join WICHE ICE now!

Check out our special promotions for FY 2013!

"Looking for a way to offer online courses that provide your students more choices, stretch your funding, and keep low enrollment programs running? Check out WICHE ICE which provides a proven framework that supports inter-institutional collaboration, pairing providers with institutions that are looking for ways to enhance options."
Sam Gingerich, ICE Chair and System Vice President for Academic Affairs, South Dakota Board of Regents
"While universities and colleges have probably never been able to afford the faculty expertise and course diversity that would best benefit student learning, now during bad economic times it is essential for institutions to share resources in order to enhance learning opportunities and reduce costs. WICHE ICE is a proven organizational and financial structure that allows institutions to share courses and programs effectively, while ensuring that students have enhanced access to learning opportunities without additional administrative burdens."
Maggi Murdock, Associate Provost and Dean, Outreach School, University of Wyoming
ICE supplements the curriculum, allowing students to tap into expertise from around the region. It both broadens and deepens a program’s offerings.

John Dede, Interim Director of the Faculty Technology Center, University of Alaska Anchorage
"There are increasingly compelling reasons for certain programs to be developed and delivered collaboratively, and WICHE ICE provides the logistics for doing so."

Mark Wheeler, Dean, Extended Studies, Boise State University
"I have enjoyed teaching WICHE ICE students through an online course at UAA. They tend to be very engaged throughout the courses."

Becky Porter, Instructor, Center for Behavioral Health Research & Services, University of Alaska Anchorage
(Becky Porter is an instructor for the Center for Behavioral Health Research & Services at the University of Alaska Anchorage. During Spring 2011 and 2012 semesters, she taught a series of three workshops on the topic “fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.” Typically 10 students from another institution enroll in each workshop through ICE.)

"While universities and colleges have probably never been able to afford the faculty expertise and course diversity that would best benefit student learning, now during bad economic times it is essential for institutions to share resources in order to enhance learning opportunities and reduce costs. WICHE ICE is a proven organizational and financial structure that allows institutions to share courses and programs effectively, while ensuring that students have enhanced access to learning opportunities without additional administrative burdens."

Maggi Murdock, Associate Provost and Dean, Outreach School, University of Wyoming

Internet Course Exchange (ICE)